Pagan Alliance

Pagan Alliance
The Pagan Alliance is the major networking organization of
Pagans and Witches in Australia. As in the United Kingdom
and North America, nature-centered Goddess worship spread
through Australia during the 1970s and 1980s. The movement
was based in a number of small autonomous covens and groves
and in somewhat limited associations of covens that shared the
same heritage and approach to magic and witchcraft. The
Pagan Alliance, founded in 1991, emerged to promote communication
and cooperation between the very decentralized
movement. Members affirm their love for and kinship with nature;
an ethic of individual responsibility; and an acceptance of
the many-faceted nature of divinity.
The alliance is organized through a set of state councils,
each of which seeks to have at least three members and repreEncyclopedia
of Occultism & Parapsychology  5th Ed. Pagan Alliance
1167
sent three different PaganWiccan traditions. The alliance attempts
to network different groups and individuals and to
serve as a contact between the Pagan community and outsiders,
especially the news media. On a national level, the alliance involves
itself as an advocacy group on issues of interest to Pagans
including freedom of religion. In this regard, it monitors news
coverage and responds to attacks, especially those involving
negative stereotypes. It has also compiled a list of Pagans licensed
to perform official functions such as marriages and funerals.
The alliance is currently administered by Chel and Jon Bardell,
who may be contacted at P.O. Box 823, Bathurst, New
South Wales 2795. The alliances Internet site is found at http
www.geocities.comAthensThebes4320. It publishes the Pagan
Times quarterly.
Sources
Pagan Alliance. httpwww.geocities.comAthensThebes
4320. February 20, 2000.